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How long is Path of Exile 2? Though you can put hundreds of hours into Path of Exile 2's endgame and upcoming leagues of content, it does have a main story split into six acts, here's how long you can expect it to take you to finish. The Path of Exile 2 release date first launches in early access, arriving with six Path of Exile 2 classes to choose from, with six more classes arriving with the 1.0 release. Though early access doesn't arrive with the full campaign story, you will be able to play a fair chunk of the game, here's what to expect and how long Path of Exile 2 takes to beat. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Path of Exile 2 quest list - all main and side missions The first Path of Exile 2 stash tab ***** is here, so here's what you need Path of Exile 2 Twitch drops and how to claim View the full article

With a skill tree larger than a medieval monarch's family tree and a much more grim aesthetic, Path of Exile 2 is a ********* take on Diablo's power fantasy. The PoE series has consistently been in the shadow of Blizzard's giant due to its reputation for being notoriously complex, but in the wake of a turbulent first year for Diablo 4, players have been quick to take Path of Exile for a spin. As a result, the upcoming Path of Exile 2 is currently the best-selling game on Steam, with hits like Counter-Strike 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 trailing behind. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: How long is Path of Exile 2? Path of Exile 2 release date, times, gameplay, and latest news Path of Exile 2 support gems explained View the full article

Many Fortnite fans have taken to social media to express frustration with the latest changes to XP in Chapter 6 Season 1. Fortnite recently ended its latest season, Chapter 2 Remix. The shorter season was a celebration of the game's past and featured collaborations with rappers like Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, Eminem, and the late artist Juice WRLD. Epic Games even managed to break its own record for concurrent players within Fortnite during the season's finale event. View the full article

When I downloaded Creeper World IXE's demo, I had it pegged as a bizarre original. It is, in fact, the latest in a series of real-time strategy games in which you position turrets and terraform maps to repel surging, simulated tides of purple liquid. This is a war between flesh and mineral, solidity and fluidity that dates back to the age of Gillen. Alex Wiltshire (RPS in peace) interviewed creator Virgil Wall back in 2019 - amongst other things, we learn that the original Creeper World was based on a "********" - and Sin has an enthusiastic piece from 2021 about Creeper World 4, the first 3D instalment. What does Creeper World IXE bring to the party? Well, 1) it ain't 3D, and 2) it's billed as an exercise in "dominating" the titular Creeper, rather than keeping it at bay. For too long has this sloshing, coruscating hooligan been allowed to wash over and corrode our precious starports. We will take the ****** to it in the shape of an upgradeable 2D starfleet, equipped with lasers we can use to chisel away the geography and re-rout the flow of villainous Vimto. Read more View the full article

The Steam Link was a little box ahead of its time. It streamed games from a PC to a TV, ran 1,500 0f them natively, offered a strange (if somewhat lovable) little controller, and essentially required a great network, Ethernet cables, and a good deal of fiddling. Valve quietly discontinued the Steam Link gear in November 2018, but it didn't give up. These days, a Steam Link app can be found on most platforms, and Valve's sustained effort to move Linux-based (i.e., non-Windows-controlled) gaming forward has paid real dividends. If you still want a dedicated device to stream Steam games, however? A Raspberry Pi 5 (with some help from Valve) can be a Substitute Steam Link. As detailed in the Raspberry Pi blog, there were previously means of getting Steam Link working on Raspberry Pi devices, but the platform's move away from proprietary Broadcom libraries—and from X to Wayland display systems—required "a different approach." Sam Lantinga from Valve worked with the Raspberry Pi team on optimizing for the Raspberry Pi 5 hardware. As of Steam Link 1.3.13 for the little board, Raspberry Pi 5 units could support up to 1080p at 144 frames per second (FPS) on the H.264 protocol and 4k at 60 FPS or 1080p at 240 FPS, presuming your primary gaming computer and network can support that. Read full article Comments View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Microsoft has revealed the 13 games that will be leaving the Xbox Game Pass subscription service by the end of December 2024. Games are removed from Xbox Game Pass at least twice every month, with Microsoft usually shining the spotlight on the departures when they're about two weeks out from removal. However, it has shaken things up a bit when it comes to the Xbox Game Pass games leaving in December 2024. View the full article

Well slap my backplate and call me CUDA, because not only are Intel’s Arc Battlemage graphics cards not ***** – having once been mired in production trouble rumours – but they’ve got names and are out from next week. The CPU makers’ second batch of dedicated gaming GPUs (following the decent budget-end Alchemist series) will comprise the Arc B580, releasing December 13th at $249, and the Arc B570, which arrives on January 16th from $219. Read more View the full article

A Stardew Valley player found out at the worst possible moment that their in-game farmer is not the gender they had initially thought they were. The cozy farming and life sim has 12 romanceable characters and lets players date characters of any gender, regardless of their own. View the full article

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is just around the corner, and if you can't wait to don your fedora and bullwhip, Humble's latest bundle will scratch your Indy ***** in the meantime. The Disney Classics ****** Friday Humble bundle is a must-buy for Disney fans, packing in brilliant games from franchises, like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Monkey Island. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Steam ****** Friday ***** - the top PC game deals Don't miss your chance to grab Remnant 2 and all DLC at 50% off for ****** Friday Get Cities Skylines 2, Crusader Kings 3, and tons of strategy classics for cheap View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The online game retailer, Fanatical, is celebrating its birthday, and that means possible prizes for you. To ring in its new milestone, the company is running a mystery game bundle prize draw where you could win a Steam Deck or a Meta Quest 3 by spending just $1. Other prizes include Twitch voucher, a Lexip Bundle, or a Fanatical Spending Spree to enjoy on our store and even if you don't win a prize, you'll still get a mystery game to add to your Steam collection. With the Steam Deck continuing to be our pick for the best handheld gaming PC and the Meta Quest 3 also being our choice for the best VR headset, both top prizes are simply fantastic. The Lexip bundle gets you some free gaming peripherals wihl Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Amazon will give you $75 if you buy a Meta Quest 3S this ****** Friday Best VR games on PC 2024 Windows 11 is coming to Meta Quest 3 for a cyberpunk VR spreadsheet future View the full article

The third day of GW's advent calendar of shiny new Warhammer 40k detachments is good news for the Tyranids, with the Warrior Bioform Onslaught joining the six codex detachment options already available to the chittering bugs. Perhaps the hive mind has been motivated by the Warriors' excellent performance as baddies in Space Marine 2... Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Warhammer 40k: New Dark Angels Lion's Blade Task Force detachment explained Warhammer 40k Slaanesh guide - the chaos **** of excess, explained Warhammer 40k Tyranids army guide View the full article

The BBC has spoken to PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst about AI's future in the video game industry in an exclusive interview. When asked on how much an impact AI will have on the industry, Hulst stated that a balance must be struck between human-made games and AI-generated products. Read more View the full article

MSI has officially announced its next ****** at handheld gaming is here with the Lunar Lake-powered MSI Claw 7 AI Plus and MSI Claw 8 AI Plus. The two Windows-based handhelds come with 32GB of RAM and larger batteries than their predecessors. They release on December 25th, but you can preorder them now, starting at $799 for the Claw 7 and $899 for the Claw 8. When the original MSI Claw shipped last spring, MSI needed to address battery life and performance, both of which were both sticking points in Sean Hollister’s Verge review. The Claw 8 brings more significant changes here; its 80-watt-hour battery is a big jump over the original model’s 53 watt hours. The Claw 7 has a much smaller increase at 54.5 watt hours. The Claw 8 also has an “easy access” SSD storage slot that the Claw 7 lacks. Both devices have a 120Hz variable refresh rate LCD display, but the Claw 8’s 8-inch screen is slightly higher resolution (1920 x 1200) than the Claw 7’s 7-inch one (1920 x 1080). Performance-wise, MSI claims the handhelds will have a 113 percent higher peak FPS and 20 percent higher average FPS than its competitors “under identical power conditions.” MSI doesn’t say which competitors it’s referring to, but in Sean’s review, the previous model was outdone by the Steam Deck OLED, Asus ROG Ally Z1E, and the Lenovo Legion Go. Image: MSI The new MSI Claw 8 AI Plus and Claw 7 AI Plus. Other changes to both handhelds include redesigned Hall effects sticks and triggers, and updated bumpers and d-pad. MSI also added a second Thunderbolt 4 port to each one’s complement of I / O ports that includes an audio jack and a microSD card reader. View the full article

Michael Gamble, project leader for the next Mass Effect game, recently suggested that new fans check out the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC from the second entry, leaving many to wonder if it will play a role in the next installment of the legendary sci-fi RPG series. With Dragon Age: The Veilguard now out in the wild, BioWare is shifting its full focus toward the upcoming Mass Effect sequel, which was announced back in 2020. There has been a small but steady trail of clues about where the story of this new Mass Effect game will lead in the years since, with one of the most prominent tidbits being the return of beloved squadmate Liara T'Soni. View the full article

Stalker 2 is out, and while I'm not exactly a big Stalker-head like our own Joshua Wolens, who gave it a 83 in his Stalker 2 review, I do know one thing about it through sheer cultural osmosis. The Stalker games are kind of jank, sometimes—and it's a part of their character, like how a ******** takes on the flavour of the barrel. Except in this case, the barrel is glitched halfway through the floor... Read more.View the full article

Mojang have today released Minecraft Java 1.21.4 'The Garden Awakens' update for everyone, bringing with it some fun new toys and a new biome to carefully explore. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

If you've ever wanted a limited edition PC case built from curved glass, looking a lot like a shoe, and costing thousands of dollars, then outlandish case specialist, InWin, has just the product for you. The InWin Infinite is a unique new case from the company that along with looking quite extraordinary, has a quite unbelieveable price too. At $7,100, it's one of the most expensive PC cases we've ever seen. If money guaranteed quality, then this would immediately be one of the best PC cases that you could buy. It wouldn't be the first unusual case we've seen from InWin, either. A few years ago it release an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed, fabric-covered PC case, and a few years before that it created a fully mirrored glass covered case too. That said, this Infinite case, which is the 11th "signature" case from InWin, might be the strangest one of the lot. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: That huge rumored Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Ti graphics card just got tested PC gamers are finally using Intel Arc GPUs, according to latest Steam survey Save $560 on this stunning 49-inch, 240Hz Samsung gaming monitor View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Last year, images began leaking out of a rumored Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Ti prototype that sported a colossal four-slot-wide cooler. At first, the images just showed the cooler but now, all this time later, fresh images of the mystery card have appeared online and it has now been shown actually working. The original four-slot RTX 4090 ***** suggested it could have been either a prototype for the eventual RTX 4090 or for an even more powerful variant that might have come to market as the RTX 4090 Ti. That would've made it the best graphics card around, but for whatever reason, Nvidia decided not to release this variant of the card. Today's benchmark *****, though, suggests that whatever the original plans for this strange card, the prototype here was more likely a variant of the RTX 4090, but a wild and wonderful one we'd have love to see come to market. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 gaming GPU repair video is incredibly satisfying This is the cheapest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super we've found this Cyber Monday This toaster-shaped gaming PC fits an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, doesn't make toast View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It's been far too long since the last, proper new Commandos game. The WW2 tactics experience has long been a stalwart of the strategy genre, and Commandos Origins is finally about to carve out a new place for the series. With titans like XCOM and Command and Conquer largely quiet these days, now's the perfect time for Commandos to come back. The bad news is a fresh delay means we'll have to wait a little longer, but the good news is that Commandos Origins will be even better because of it. Oh, and you can still take the demo for a spin. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: You can try the new Commandos game right now, as an RTS legend returns A true RTS game classic is finally coming back and you can sign up now One of the best RTS games ever made is finally making a comeback View the full article

One of the beauties of the Monster Hunter games is the vast array of weapons. With 14 to choose from, each with a vastly different style of play, players are free to express themselves as they set out on the hunt. View the full article

“First-person shooter” is a broad term. It can mean everything from an action-horror game like F.E.A.R., to a sci-fi adventure like Metroid Prime, to a ******-eviscerating romp like Doom. Even narrowing it down to a sub-category like “military FPS” still puts the linear campaign of Call of Duty, the enormous PvP clashes of Battlefield, and the white-knuckle extractions of Escape from Tarkov (among others) under a single umbrella. Delta Force, the latest revival of a now 26-year-old shooter series last seen in 2009, is probably best defined as a bit of each of those last two – with a dedicated large-scale PvP mode and a separate extraction shooter mode, it sits somewhat awkwardly at the center of that Venn diagram. As a result, it’s a free-to-play one-stop shop of “just fine”: It’s competent all around, but doesn’t distinguish itself in battle with any substantial new ideas. While Delta is officially “out,” (whatever that means anymore) only two of the three main modes are currently available. The third, a single-player campaign, is planned as paid DLC somewhere down the line. Of the two that are here now, the Warfare mode is Delta Force’s version of the big team combat of Battlefield, where 64 players duke it out for supremacy across one of a handful of sprawling arenas. There is no straight kill-focused Deathmatch; instead, the focus is on objective-based games like King of the Hill variants. The standout among these is Attack and Defend, which has one team capturing strategic points before running out of a finite number of respawns, while the other team defends those areas with limitless lives. It’s a subtle rule change that does put a good spin on a mode we’ve seen a ton of in Battlefield; initially, the offense has the advantage thanks to favorable terrain and an abundance of vehicles, but things even out as the match progresses and the defense retreats toward their home base and has quick access to respawned reinforcements. This means each side typically gets to spend some time as both the figurative hammer and the nail. The battles certainly do feel big, which is a good thing. Fast respawns mean both teams are dense with soldiers at all times. Once the bullets and rockets start flying, the chaos and confusion of combat is as exciting as you’d expect for a Battlefield-style game. Each gun you use earns it’s own XP to unlock component options, as is common on modern military shooters. It’s particularly fun when you get behind the controls of a vehicle and start running roughshod over the other team. A tank fully loaded with gunners can dominate, but don’t sleep on the impact of a simple machine gun turret on the top of an armored car. And similar to Battlefield (yes, you’re hearing that comparison a lot, for good reason), aerial vehicles like helicopters are challenging to pilot but can be powerful in the right hands, rewarding skillful play. Vehicles don’t totally dominate the battlefield, however, thanks to the varied operatives you can choose to play as and switch between mid-match. These named characters act as a sort of hybrid between a simple loadout choice and a bespoke hero, which is somewhat similar to the Specialists from Battlefield 2042, which fits the jack-of-all-trades theme persistent throughout Delta Force. They create the sort of rocket-paper-scissors balance that Battlefield veterans will know intimately, and it’s done pretty well: if you are being overrun by vehicles, it might be a good idea to spawn with a rocket launcher or, if the fight is taking place in open spaces, it could be time to bust out the trusty sniper rifle. Each character has unique abilities that are helpful in battle too, like Luna’s Detection Arrows that can periodically be fired to reveal enemies, but none are so powerful as to outright win a skirmish, let alone a whole match for you. I just wish the action felt better on a basic level. I just wish the action felt better on a basic level. One thing that strikes me as off is the way that bullet arc and trajectory factor heavily into shooting, so leading your targets is essential for firing accurately at a distance. I don’t mind leading a target, but often the bullets feel like they are flying so slow that I may as well be firing airsoft rounds. Maybe that’s more realistic than Call of Duty’s more arcadey ballistics model, but feels deeply at odds with the aggressive pace of play that the objective-based Attack and Defend mode drives. Once you die you generally need to rush back to the objective, but as you’re dashing through open space you’re an easy target, and the finicky shooting also means it’s tough to return fire accurately on the move. I found this meant deaths tend to come in bunches while I tried to get back to a good position. It’s also a bit strange to have the gunplay be so grounded in simulation at one moment, then have operators activate fantastical abilities like clouds of healing smoke or status effect-inflicting drones the next. There’s nothing inherently bad about that, it’s just a head-scratcher. Get in, get loot, get out On the other side of things, the Operations mode follows the equally familiar extraction shooter framework: You and up to two friends can form a three-person squad to enter an area, shoot AI bad guys, grab the loot, and scoot back to the extraction zone without catching a bullet. It’s a tried-and-true formula that Delta Force follows to the letter, but the generally high quality of its execution makes up for at least some of that lack of imagination. There are three levels available at launch (with another unlocking in just a few days) and each is an open sandbox that is dense with objectives to choose from. Maps easily highlight points of interest for things like bounty targets, safes to plunder, and intel to decode. That might seem like a small detail to praise, but in a genre dominated by games like Escape from Tarkov that are designed to be intentionally opaque, Delta Force’s choice to make important information accessible is a nice differentiator. I like being able to just drop a waypoint and know what I’m in for when I get there without having to memorize the maps or look them up in a guide. I’m a fan of the enemy variety the Operations mode throws at you. Once you pick your destination, you’ll need to shoot your way through squads of AI soldiers, and occasionally other human squads who cross your path. So while we have more information here than in similar games, the suspense is still in effect because you never know who’s around, or in what numbers, and that means every enemy encounter starts with some fast risk assessment: do you take the shot and risk letting everyone know where you are, or do you sneak by, leaving a potential threat on the field? Making quick decisions with limited information does a good job of keeping the action strategic and interesting. That’s particularly true if you see other people, as they are certainly more dangerous than the bots, but could be loot-rich targets worth taking on. I’m a fan of the enemy variety Delta Force throws at you. I encountered plenty of run-of-the-mill soldiers that had my squad fighting roving bands of riflemen, ducking into buildings to avoid sniper fire, and executing on-the-fly flanking maneuvers to get around riot shields. But then there are surprises that shake things up: One memorable moment saw my team pinned down by a massive armored baddie blasting at us with a minigun as we lobbed grenades from behind cover. Another time, a member of our trio was cracking a safe while the other squadmate and I provided cover, and I almost jumped out of my chair when a giant alligator came around the corner and tried to put a stop to our fun. Microtransaction Reaction Delta Force is free-to-play, which means it makes money via microtransactions. It features a standard timed battlepass, with two tiers of premium options called Special, and Deluxe for 520 and 720 Delta Coins, respectively. Those will cost you around $8-$10. You can also buy level packs to instantly increase your battlepass levels. Importantly, the rewards themselves are mostly cosmetic and offer no advantage in PvP, so it passes the smell test. There are some equipment bundles you can get for the Operations, but given how simple it is to earn gear in-game, that’s more of a mild time-saver than a pushy incentive. Overall it’s a very innocuous monetization system, which is good to see. [/url] One place where you get perhaps too much information, though, is the loot system. There are all sorts of containers everywhere, like file cabinets, coat pockets, fallen enemies, etc. – but just about any Operation starts with the whole squad just running right towards whichever safe on the map is marked with the best loot. That could use some work, because the levels themselves are really cool when you explore them freely. Areas like The Dam mix offices with exposed industrial exteriors, and there are often hidden doors to open or secret hidden areas where loot can be stashed. Some areas require specific operators to access, like chain link fence that needs to be cut into by the Engineer, which would give you even more reasons to think about your team composition if there were a reasonable chance that there’s something worth finding on the other side. I would be much more inclined to explore if I thought valuable treasures were potentially waiting in all these hidey-holes. The time between Operations is spent at the ****** Site, which functions as your home base and the tiny amount of storage space in your stash that needs upgrading. It’s also where you manage the well-built loadouts screen where you can save a few different kits you can take into battle, or rebuild them with just a few clicks. It’s a fast and slick way to get back in the action, which helps take the sting out of a failed extraction. I’m also a fan of the ticket system, which you can trade in for entire load-outs, including weapons, armor, ammo, and healing items. There are different quality levels you can cash in, Recruit gives basic equipment, Standard includes better armor and weapons with more powerful mods, etc. Every failed extraction gives you a Recruit Ticket, and you automatically generate one every eight hours, so even if you have a run of terrible luck and lose all your in-game money, you can still start working your way back up from the bottom with some decent gear. The more powerful tickets, meanwhile, are tied to completing events. These can be as simple as logging in at certain times, or as complex as completing a long series of assigned tasks in a particular level or as a specific character. Upgrading other parts of the ****** Site takes a mix of increasing levels and salvaging specific components in the field. I appreciate that you can see what things you need to collect, and even launch straight to the correct level to find them, though the amount of time it takes to get even the early upgrades going can take way too long when you need to have good RNG luck with what you find on top of grinding up to the right level. I’d love to build up a workbench to make my own ammo, but given the commitment I’m just going to stick to selling weird vases and buying what I need, thanks. View the full article

A prominent Fortnite leaker has revealed that up to four major Marvel characters could be coming to the battle royale in early December. Marvel and Fortnite have a long history of crossovers. The two had a massive collaboration in 2020 when Chapter 2 Season 4 featured a whole battle pass filled with exclusive Marvel skins. Fortnite recently had another Marvel-themed season to close out Chapter 5. While these seasons brought many new cosmetics to the game through battle passes, plenty of Marvel characters from movies, comics, and television have regularly made their way to the battle royale through the item shop. View the full article

The Tekken World Tour final is soon approaching, with the best of the best Tekken 8 players duking it out in Tokyo for glory, money, and bragging rights. While some fantastic Tekken will be present for all to see, one thing that won't be there is a new character trailer. Instead, that'll be shown off later in the year, leading many players to look to Geoff Keighley for some hope on The Game Awards stage. Read more View the full article

Sounds like there's plenty of good reasons to be a FromSoftware fan on the horizon, as studio head Hidetaka Miyazaki has teased its future titles. Read more View the full article

I've never needed much story from Monster Hunter. Each game's plot follows a predictable pattern: Something is upsetting the ecology, and you need to battle a few dozen frenzied lizards until you and the Hunter's Guild uncover what never-before-seen creature is responsible for the turmoil... Read more.View the full article